Jane Schaberg

Jane Dewar Schaberg (February 20, 1938 – April 17, 2012) was an American biblical scholar who served as Professor of Religious Studies and of Women's Studies at the University of Detroit Mercy from 1977 through 2009.

Life Born in 1938, Schaberg earned a BA in philosophy from Manhattanville College, an MA in systematic theology from Columbia University, and a PhD in biblical studies from Union Theological Seminary. In 1974 she was elected a member of the Catholic Biblical Association.

Schaberg's publications deal mainly with the New Testament, including a commentary on the New Testament Infancy Narratives, on the Gospel of Luke, and on feminist contributions to historical and literary research. She also wrote poetry although her poetry is not widely published. Her later research was on the traditions and legends associated with the figure of Mary Magdalene, as seen through a feminist lens. Schaberg's sometimes controversial work, especially the 1987 publication of The Illegitimacy of Jesus: A Feminist Theological Interpretation of the Infancy Narratives, has been discussed in Newsweek, Time, The New Yorker, Cross Currents, and the Detroit Free Press. Schaberg's automobile was set on fire in response to this book.

At one time a professed member of the Society of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (a religious community of Roman Catholic women), Schaberg renounced her vows while teaching at the University of Detroit Mercy, and in 1984 was one of 97 theologians and religious persons who signed A Catholic Statement on Pluralism and Abortion, calling for religious pluralism and discussion within the Catholic Church regarding the church's position on abortion.

She was chosen for the Distinguished Faculty Award in 2006, she was acknowledged as professor emerita of Religious Studies in 2011 following her retirement. She died at her home in Detroit April 17, 2012, at the age of 74 after a long illness.

Works Thesis

Books - general publication of the author's 1980 thesis

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